Universal clamp assembly for bed hand rails



NOV. 4, 1969 CAKES UNIVERSAL CLAMP ASSEMBLY FOR BED HAND RAILS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 29.

FIG. 2

Nov. 4, I969 L. F. OAKES 3,476,346

UNIVERSAL CLAMP ASSEMBLY FOR BED HAND RAILS Filed Dec. 29, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 3,476,346 UNIVERSAL CLAMP ASSEMBLY FOR BED HAND RAILS Leland F. Oakes, 3321 Avenue B, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501 Filed Dec. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 694,525 Int. Cl. A47c 21/08 US. Cl. 248-226 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A universal clamp assembly for bed hand rails and for attaching the base of the bottom section of a bed hand rail assembly to the side frame member of the bed by means of a clamp with attached backet assembly designed for the positioning of the lower or base portion of the bed hand rail assembly at any one of various positions of vertical spacing with respect to the clamp and to the bed side frame member.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION One of the basic problems in the application of bed hand rails to beds of various kinds is the lack of mechanical ability on the part of some of the people who are taking care of elderly patients to handle the tools necessary for drilling holes and applying bolts to attach bed hand rails to a bed. The labor involved is considerable, especially when the side frame members of the bed are made of steel. Drilling through the steel is long and tedious and requires considerable strength.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The best example of a bed hand rail that illustrates the problems described is to be found in my own earlier Patent #3,l73,l58, titled, Invalids Arm Lift Hand Rail Assembly, issued, Mar. 16, 1965. In this patent, it will be seen that the lowermost base portions of the hand rail assembly are shown attached to the bed side frame member by means of bolts, as requires drilling and also skill in the positioning of the holes.

An even more serious problem is the great variation in the height of the top of beds, and particularly, the distance of the top of a bed from the position of its side frame member. This variation can cause an impossibility in the mass production of bed hand rails for fitting all beds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides a universal clamp assembly for fitting all common types of bed frame members, whether they be wood or steel, and which has a clamp which can be quickly attached thereto, the clamp having a bracket assembly attached to it and the bracket assembly being adapted to be adjusted into different positions for disposing an outer end of the backet assembly which is attached to the lowermost member of a bed hand rail at various selected vertical positions with respect to the position of the clamp and of the bed side frame member, whereby the bed hand rail itself can be positioned at a proper height for retaining an invalid in a bed and regardless of the type or height of the bed involved.

3,476,346 Patented Nov. 4, 1969 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the universal clamp assembly of this invention shown in full lines in the position for clamping against the type of a bed side frame member which has a vertical flange, the said frame member being shown partly in full lines and partly in dotted lines, a different type of bed side frame member also having a vertical flange, but having its horizontal flange disposed at its bottom instead of its upper side is shown mostly in dotted lines for clarity of illustration. A wooden side frame member of a bed is shown in partly full lines and partly dotted lines, as it would be seen in crosssection and an optional dotted line position of the clamp is shown as it would be seen when clamped to the wooden side frame member. Optional various positions of the base or lower member of a bed hand rail are shown mostly in dotted lines.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the parts shown in DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The universal clamp assembly of this invention is generally indicated at 10 in FIGURE 1 and a bed, hand rail, and universal clamp assembly of the invention is generally indicated at 12 in FIGURE 1, although most parts of the bed and of the hand rail assembly are not illustrated in the drawing because they are understood to be of the sort clearly shown in my earlier Patent #3,173,158, above mentioned.

The clamp assembly 10 has a U-shaped clamp generally indicated at 20 having a back 24 and having two arms 32 and 34 attached to and extending from one side of the back 24 to describe a common C-clamp as the term is generally used throughout the tool industry.

The C-clamp 20 further has a threaded shaft 40 extending threadedly through one of its arms 32 and movable toward and away from the other of its arms 34.

At an inner end of the shaft 40 is a pressure member 41 which can be pushed in various positions so as to be movable toward and away from the other arm 34. Means 50 is provided for rotating the shaft 40* and particularly has a lever 52 transverse to the shaft 40.

A bed hand rail supporting bracket assembly is generally indicated at 58 and has a first portion 60 extending in parallelism with the shaft 40-, and has a second portion attached to the first portion 60 and extending at a right angle thereto and being elongated.

An elongated anchoring bar is welded at 81 to the arm 34 on that side 82 thereof which is disposed opposite the first arm 32.

The anchoring bar 80 extends at approximately a right angle to the shaft 40. A pivot bolt 90, or other suitable pivot means, is provided. The bolt extends through and pivotally connects the second portion 70 with the anchor- 3 ing bar 80 and extends transversely of the elongated bar 80.

The pivot bolt 90 is disposed offset from the line 92' extending through the shaft 40, such offset being toward that side of the line 92 which is opposite the back of said clamp.

The first section 60 of the bracket has a bolt opening 100 therethrough transversely thereof. A bed hand rail lowermost or base section 120 is disposed in horizontal position adjacent and abutting the first section 60 and extends at a right angle to the shaft 40 with a bolt 130 extending through the hand rail base section 120 and through the first section 60 of the bracket assembly for securing them together.

In FIGURE 1, it will be seen that the bolt 90 will permit the second section 70 to be disposed extending vertically downward therefrom for placing the hand rail base section 120 in a lowermost position, or the second section 70 can extend vertically upward for disposing the base section 120 higher. Another possibility is to attach the hand rail base section 120 directly to the bolt 90 with or without the bracket second section 70 therebetween, as will dispose the base section 120 in an intermediate position of height.

The second bracket section 70 can be disposed with either one of its sides facing the anchor bar 80, as will cause the first section 60 to extend either outwardly from the clamp or inwardly toward the clamp, as illustrated at 61 at the top of FIGURE 1, to give a selection of horizontal positioning thereof.

A second anchoring bar is given the number 180 and is welded at 181 to the back 24 of the clamp and on that side of the back which is opposite the shaft 40 with the anchoring bar 180, which is elongated, extending in parallelism to the shaft 49 and having a bolt opening 183 extending transversely through it. The purpose of the anchoring bar 180 is best seen in FIGURE 3 in which the same clamp 20 is disposed with its lever 52 downward so that the anchoring bar 180 is vertical. The bar 180 can then have the second section 70 of the bracket assembly attached to it by means of a bolt 190, or optionally, an additional second section 70' of the bracket assembly can be supplied and is shown in FIGURE 3 for attachment by the bolt 190 at that end of the second section 70 which is farthest from the first bracket section 60, which like the first bracket section 60 above described is disposed at a right angle to the second section 70 and extends away from the threaded shaft 40.

The second bracket section 70 in FIGURE 3 can be disposed extending upwordly, downwardly, or can simply be removed or kept out of the way by extending horizontally, which latter is shown at 187 in FIGURE 3, giving three optional positions of the base section 120 of the bed hand rail.

The purpose of the position of the anchoring bar 180 is for use as shown in FIGURE 3, whereby the clamp 20 can be attached to the horizontal section 340 of a bed side frame member 344 disposed between the jaws of the clamp and with a vertical flange 346 of the bed side frame member 344 extending vertically downward from the horizontal flange 340.

In operation, it will be seen that the clamp can be quickly clamped on any one of the many types of bed side frame members shown in FIGURES 1 and 3 without the use of tools. The multiple vertical positions of the base member of the bed hand rail made possible indicate that this invention has fulfilled the objectives above set forth for the fitting of bed hand rails to beds of many types and of many heights.

I claim:

1. A universal clamp assembly for bed hand rails comprising: a U-shaped clamp having a back and having two arms attached to and extending from the back, a threaded shaft extending threadedly through one of said arms and movable toward and away from the other of said arms,

and means for rotation of said shaft and attached to a part of said shaft which is disposed on the opposite side of the arm that receives said shaft, 2. bed hand rail supporting bracket assembly having a first portion extending in parallelism with said threaded shaft, said bracket having a second portion attached to said first portion, said second portion extending at a right angle to said first portion, an elongated anchoring bar welded to said other arm on that Side of said other arm which is disposed opposite said first arm, said anchoring bar extending at approximately a right angle to said shaft, a pivot bolt means pivotally connecting said second portion of said anchoring bracket assembly to said anchoring bar for pivoting about a pivot axis, said pivot axis extending transversely of said elongated anchoring bar, said pivot axis being disposed offset from a line extending through said threaded shaft, such offset being toward that side of said line which is opposite said back of said clamp, said first portion of said bracket having a bolt opening therethrough extending transversely therethrough, an elongated bed hand rail base portion disposed adjacent said first portion of said bracket assembly and extending at a right angle to said threaded shaft, and a bolt extending through said bed hand rail base portion and through said first portion of said bracket assembly and securing said bed hand rail anchoring section to said first section of said bracket, said combination further including a horizontal bed side frame member, said bed side frame member having an outer side and an inner side, said bed side frame member having a vertically extending portion on its outer side and having a horizontally extending portion on its inner side, said horiozntally extending portion having an upwardly facing upper surface, said clamp being attached to said bed side frame member with said back extending under the lower side of said bed side frame member, that one of said clamp arms through said threaded shaft extends being disposed on the inner side of said bed rail.

2. The combination of claim 1 further including said clamp assembly having such dimensions that said threaded shaft extends through that one of its arms which has its terminal end at a minimum distance from the threaded shaft.

3. A universal clamp assembly for bed hand rails comprising: a U-shaped clamp having a back and having two arms attached to and extending from the back, a threaded shaft extending threadedly through one of said arms and movable toward and away from the other of said arms, and means for rotation of said shaft and attached to a part of said shaft which is disposed on the opposite side of the arm that receives said shaft, a bed hand rail supporting bracket assembly having a first portion extending in parallelism with said threaded shaft, said bracket having a second portion attached to said first portion, said second portion extending at a right angle to said first portion, a first elongated anchoring bar welded to said other arm on that side of said other arm which is disposed opposite said first arm, said first anchoring bar extending at approximately a right angle to said shaft, said first anchoring bar having an opening therethrough extending approximately in parallelism with said threaded shaft, a second elongated anchoring bar welded to that side of the back of said clamp which is opposite said threaded shaft, a pivot bolt means pivotally connecting said second portion of said anchor bracket assembly to a selected one of said anchoring bars at a first or second pivot axis disposed respectively parallel to said threaded shaft and at a right angle to said threaded shaft, said pivot axes extending transversely of said anchoring bars respectively, said first portion of said bracket having a bolt opening therethrough extending transversely therethrough, an elongated bed hand rail base portion disposed adjacent said first portion of said bracket assembly and extending at a right angle to said threaded shaft, and a bolt extending through said bed hand rail base portion and through said first portion of said bracket assembly and securing said bed hand rail anchoring section to said first section of said bracket, said combination further including a horizontal bed side frame member, said bed side frame member having a vertically extending portion on its outer side and having a horizontally extending portion having an upwardly facing upper surface, said clamp being attached to said bed side frame member, said threaded shaft being disposed inwardly of and lapping the vertically extending portion of said bed side frame member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 473,073 4/ 1892 Lemaire.

Sharp 5-282 Bardon.

Hillenbrand 5-331 X Anderson 248-226 Oakes 5331 Harr 248--226 X Eining 248226 X US. Cl. X.R. 

